Biography:

Doug Toomey is a geophysicist and pioneer in the use of ocean-bottom seismology to study tectonic and volcanic processes at plate boundaries and hotspots. He is Oregon's lead participant in the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, a cooperative operation between the UO and the University of Washington to monitor earthquake and volcanic activity in the Pacific Northwest. He has led the push for increased seismic monitoring to strengthen Oregon's role in a full West Coast Earthquake Early Warning System. From 2011 to 2016 he was team leader of the Cascadia Initiative, a National Science Foundation-funded project that studied the offshore Cascadia Subduction Zone. He has led scientific oceanic expeditions around the world.

Recent Media:

• Dr. Douglas Toomey, who leads the Oregon Hazards Lab, writes about an AI tool that could make it easier to detect and combat wildfires. (Oregon Business, June 28, 2024)
• UO is using AI to spot wildfires; the tech is expected to be a game-changer (The Oregonian, June 20, 2024)
• University of Oregon helps manage large network of wildfire detection cameras (Oregon Public Broadcasting, May 23, 2024)
• University of Oregon professors talk about tools to help fight wildfires this summer (KGW, May 8, 2024)
• 324th Cascadia quake anniversary: Advances in understanding subduction zones (KATU, Jan. 28, 2024)
• Preparing for "The Big One," earthquake researchers recognize 324th anniversary of the last Cascadia earthquake (KEZI, Jan. 27, 2024)
• University Pairs Towers, Cameras to Track Wildfires (Inside Towers, Nov. 23, 2022)
• Oregon awards millions in funding to wildfire detection system (KEZI, March 28, 2022)
• Dozens of earthquakes strike off Oregon Coast, but experts say not to worry (The New York Times, Dec. 9, 2021)
• Oregon's ShakeAlert earthquake warning system approved for state funding (KLCC, Aug. 11, 2020)
• Wildfire camera networks spread across California (The San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 24, 2019)
• Inside the plan to prepare the Pacific Northwest for a catastrophic earthquake (Gizmodo, Feb. 13, 2019)
• Parts of the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia fault are more seismically active than others – new imaging data suggests why (The Conversation, Aug. 1, 2018)
• Pieces of mantle found rising under north and south ends of Cascadia fault (Phys.org, July 25, 2018)
• Earthquake early warning system: Stirred, not shaken (Chinook Observer, April 8, 2016)
• Doug Toomey attends White House earthquake summit (OregonNews, Feb. 3, 2016)
• The Big One: Cascadia earthquake's impact on the south coast (The World, Aug. 9, 2015)
• Oregon is a small step closer to an earthquake early warning system that could save lives when the big one comes (The Register-Guard, July 31, 2015)
• Toomey on the move as UO role grows in quake warning effort (OregonNews, Feb. 16, 2015)
• Study: offshore fault where the 'big one' originates eerily quiet (Oregon Public Broadcasting/Northwest News Network, Dec. 2, 2014)